AnchorFree and HotSpot Shield

Lois wants to watch American TV and wants to know about AnchorFree
Hi TC: I’m sure you are aware as Canadians we are prohibited from viewing U.S. TV shows online. I’ve recently found a web site you download into your pc which allows you to view U.S. shows….it’s called AnchorFree.com…. I always hesitate downloading a new program unless it has your stamp of approval. Do you know anything about this program? Who knows it may be a good site of the week for us Canadians. Regards Lois

Our answer
Thanks, Lois. We couldn’t make AnchorFree a site of the week since the Web site itself has little to offer – it’s basically a site offering software. AnchorFree makes a product called HotSpot Shield. It establishes a VPN connection and hides your IP address from the sites you visit – like a cloaking device. But the free version is adware. If you are willing to put up with ads being injected into your browser and whatever you’re watching and you understand the risks involved with adware (your computer is being used as billboard by advertisers and advertising networks), then you can watch American TV (why would you want to?). We are aware that sites like Hulu are restricted to U.S. IP addresses only and using Hotspot Shield can mask your IP address and give you access to American TV and sites such as Hulu and Pandora, etc, but it seems almost paradoxical that Hotspot Shield protects your IP address from being determined, yet makes your computer and open network for advertisers – who may actually see your true IP address. We’re not sure of this, but most advertisers aren’t going to pay to advertise to anonymous computers – they’d want proof that their ads were being seen by different people (unique views) verified by IP address. There’s a lot going on with HotSpot Shield we’re not comfortable with. If we had an alternative that wasn’t adware – we’d tell you, but we’ve not found one. Maybe one of our readers has an idea for you – if so we’ll let you know.

So with AnchorFree’s HotSpot Shield, you’re on your own — we can’t give any adware program our thumbs up. If watching American TV is something you really want to do – you can go ahead and see how HotSpot Shield works for you. At least now you’re aware of the risks and that is it adware.